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Croatian Junior Mathematical Olympiad

Algebra Difficulty 3.2 AMC 10/12 Prove it Croatia

Prove that
3abc+a+b+c≥2(ab+bc+ca) 3abc + a + b + c \ge 2(ab + bc + ca)
holds for all real numbers a,b,c≥1a, b, c \ge 1.
Determine all cases for which the equality is obtained.

Solution

Let us denote x=a−1x = a-1, y=b−1y = b-1 and z=c−1z = c-1. Then x,y,z≥0x, y, z \ge 0, and the given inequality easily transforms into
3xyz+xy+yz+zx≥0, 3xyz + xy + yz + zx \ge 0,
which is true since all addends on the left-hand side are non-negative.

The equality is obtained if and only if xyz=xy=yz=zx=0xyz = xy = yz = zx = 0, which is true if and only if at least two numbers among x,yx, y and zz are equal to 00, i.e. if and only if at least two numbers among a,ba, b and cc are equal to 11.

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